Vault 11
by Jaymzy
Summary: I slightly altered re-telling of the story of Vault 11. I wrote it for school, so I made up some of the names. One-Shot.


**Vault 11**

**[Play: Final Recording- Lobby]**

"_It called us 'Shining examples.'"_

"_How do you expect us to live with ourselves?"_

"_It's not our fault!" _

"_Whose fault is it then?"_

"…_It's not ours… We were just doing as we were told."_

"_So then do as you're told now!"_

"_No!"_

"_How are we supposed to go out and face the world?"_

"_What if somebody finds out about what happened here?"_

"_We all swore not to tell a soul. We can't." _

"_Let's vote."_

"_Voting got us into this whole mess!"_

"_Let's. Vote."_

"_Fine." _

"_All in favour?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Yes."_

"_Yes."_

"_No…"_

"_Yes."_

"_That's that then. There's nothing we can-"_

"_We can move passed this!"_

"_I don't want to…" _

"_Me neither. How can we live knowing that they can't?"_

"_It's not our fault! She died to save us! We are free!"_

"_Look, if you want to go on, fine. Don't do it Nathan. Then feel free to walk out."_

"_Fine…"_

_There are four gunshots, a long pause, a sigh, and then fading footsteps. _

**[End of recording]**

This was the final recording taken from the security terminal in the lobby of the underground housing community protected from the bombs of the Great War. These protective bunkers were called 'Vaults'. This particular one, however, had a fatal flaw. There was not enough food to fulfill the needs of all of its occupants. To keep order within the vault, there were certain regulations that needed to be met. Every year, one member of the community needed to be sacrificed. They would say their goodbyes, and would go down to the basement, where they would be killed. This would keep people loyal, and keep the food properly passed out. If these needs were not met, there would be "very dire consequences." These are the rules that were told to the people when they were locked inside the vault.

This martyr would be chosen by the overseer. An overseer would be voted in immediately after a sacrifice was made. The very first overseer, Jacob Hoff, refused to pick an offering to the vault, and nominated himself. He snuck into the basement the night before the sacrifice was to be picked, and took his own life.

From that moment on, every overseer would sacrifice themselves at the end of their term, to thank the people they loved. This eventually became the accepted idea, and people voted on the overseer, no longer for their leadership potential, but for the sacrifice.

Several blocs began to form to sway the decision about the votes, the most prominent group, The Justice Bloc, had a small majority and would almost always have their nominations "win". Each nomination needed to be backed in support by a bloc to go up for nomination.

This is the tragic story of Vault 11, and the final election.

Kate sat on the end of her bed in the room shared by her and her husband, Nathan. She was reading an issue of 'Programmers Digest' that she had read several times before. At this point she wanted to leave the vault just to be able to get something decent to read. This whole living underground thing was pretty safe, but after a while you focus less on the "Living" and more on the "Underground".

There was a knock at her door.

"Come in!" She exclaimed excitedly, she loved when people came to her dorm, as she would be able to do something other than sit and stare at the cold metal walls. The door came open and a familiar figure was in the room.

"Hello Mr. Gottlieb." She said, her excitement gone. The man in front of her was Roy Gottlieb, head of the Justice Bloc. He was a large man, with an equally large moustache. He was rather threatening looking.

"Hello Mrs. Stone." He stated, unsurprisingly emotionless, "As you know, the annual voting is coming up. And I-"

"You would like me and my husband to support your vote, I know Roy, we support your vote every year. You fellows always have reasonable nominations."

"Actually Mrs. Stone, There is something further I'd like to ask you… I don't really know how to say this, but your husband, Nathan has been playing in our weekly poker game."

"…Yes…"

"And… he has been winning, almost with no slow of pace." Mr. Gottlieb sat on the desk chair to become almost eye-level with Kate. "We believe he is cheating…"

"What?!"

"Katherine, please. Lower your voice. I am trying to help you… The Bloc has begun discussing the idea of nominating your husband for the Overseer."

Kate could hardly take this information in. She could feel her eyes welling up, and her heart fall into the pit of her stomach. She just stared at him. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had never believed that someone could be voted up for Overseer for simply cheating in a poker game… And there was no evidence!

"But…" Mr. Gottlieb began, "I know that he is no cheater… But I can't seem to convince the others."

"You're their leader! Don't you have final say?"

"I do, but I can't very well go against my entire Bloc, can I Mrs. Stone?"

"No… I guess not…"

"But, there is something you can do…"

"What is it..?"

Kate sat on the edge of her bed… tears streaming down her face, but she was silent. She felt dirty. She had been violated. Nathan slept in the bed beside her. She couldn't tell him… She just couldn't.

Two weeks later, the nominations were announced: Barry Domino, on counts of theft as backed by several small Blocs, Ryan Terrance, on counts of violence, backed by minor Blocs, and Nathan Stone, on counts of cheating and theft, backed only by the Justice Bloc.

Kate couldn't believe what she was seeing… She had been tricked. She had been violated and still, nothing changed. There was only one thing she had to do…

**[Play: First Recording- Katherine Stone's Admittance of Guilt]**

_"Please, Mrs. Stone, Can you reiterate what you just said for the recording?"_

_ "Fine. They thought my husband was cheating in their stupid poker game."_

_ "Your husband being?"_

_ "You know god-damn well who my husband is!"_

_ "It's not for me Mrs. Stone. It's for the recording."_

_ "Fine. My husband, Nathan Stone, is being voted up for Overseer simply because he is good at poker!"_

_ "So what did you do?"_

_ "They told me that I could save him if I…"_

_ "If you what Mrs. Stone?"_

_ "If I perform… favors for them…"_

_ "Favors?"_

_ "Ugh! Sexual favors! They wanted me to have sex with them!_

_ "And did you?"_

_ "… I did…"_

_ "And yet he is still on the list of nominees."_

_ "Yes."_

_ "But now, you are as well."_

_ "Yes."_

_ "Why is that?"_

_ "Because I killed them."_

_ "You killed who?"_

_ "I killed members of the Justice Bloc. Their majority was only minor; I knew that if I killed some of them, maybe my husband would be spared."_

_ "And you are admitting this."_

_ "Yes. I know that people will vote me instead. I don't want to live with myself after I did those things anyway. I'd rather die for my husband. I know that I'm a choice people can live with."_

_ "Okay. Thank you Mrs. Stone."_

**[End of recording]**

Kate's first act as Overseer was to eliminate the voting process all together. She passed "Overseer Order 745" which declared that the Overseer would be chosen through random draw every year to create fairness amongst the decision. The Justice Bloc, afraid of losing more of their own, declared war on Kate to have her retract the order. This caused a long and violent Civil War within the vault. Killing all but 5 citizens - one of them being Nathan Stone.

They opened up the main terminal and declared that they would no longer sacrifice people to the vault.

**[Play: Second Recording- Nathan Stone's Message]**

_All right, I know you can hear me, so listen up. There's five of us left. Five. Out of... I don't know how many. So... it's over. We've talked and it's over. We're not going to send anybody to die anymore. So shut off our water or gas us or do whatever it is you're programmed to do. But we're done listening to you. _

**[End of recording]**

The five of them waited, and were given this response:

**[Play: Third Recording- Automated Solution Response] **

_Congratulations, citizens of Vault 11! You have made the decision not to sacrifice one of your own. You can walk with your head held high knowing that your commitment to human life is a shining example to us all. And to make that feeling of pride even sweeter, I have some exciting news. Despite what you were led to believe, the population of Vault 11 is not going to be exterminated for its disobedience. Instead, the mechanism to open the main vault door has now been enabled, and you can come and go at your leisure. But not so fast! Be sure to check with your overseer to find out if it's safe to leave. Here at Vault-Tec, your safety is our number one priority._

**[End of recording]**


End file.
